A “left-leaning, feminist, agnostic, environmentalist internationalist” on Iraq

In today’s Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby recounts the writings of Australian journalist Pamela Bone and “The humanitarian case for war in Iraq”:

Bone's words appear in an essay she contributed to ''A Matter of Principle: Humanitarian Arguments for War in Iraq," a 2005 collection edited by Wellesley College sociologist Thomas Cushman. To read her essay this week, with the war entering its fourth year, is to be reminded of the abiding moral power of the liberal case for the war. While most of the left was always opposed to liberating Iraq, a small but honorable minority never lost sight of the vast humanitarian stakes: Defeating Saddam would mean ending one of the most unspeakable dictatorships of modern times. Wasn't that a goal anyone with progressive values should embrace?

That was why, ''in February 2003, when asked to speak at a rally for peace, I politely declined," Bone writes. ''But I added, less politely, that if there were to be a rally condemning the brutality Saddam Hussein was inflicting on his people . . . I would be glad to speak at it."

It’s unclear if she was invited to speak in that context. Junkyard Blog reminds us the face of American protest.